L." for Seditious Libeller. Others
printed similar material. In vain the Star Chamber limited the
number of London printers to twenty, and made licensing stricter.
These prisoners were set free by the Long Parliament.
Charles I intimidated justices to obey him in decision-making even
more than James I.
Charles I so abused the power of the Star Chamber court that it
was abolished by the Long Parliament and with it, the involvement
of the King's Council in civil and criminal cases.
The regular church courts punished people for heresy, non-
attendance at church, sexual immorality, working on the sabbath or
a holy day, non-payment of tithes, and lending money at interest.
The special ecclesiastical court, the Court of High Commission,
was composed of clerics appointed by the king and decided cases of
marriage annulment, alimony, adultery, married couples living
separately, cruelty of husbands to wives, and habitual
drunkenness. But it also took on cases of schismatics and extended
its power over them to include staid and solid Puritans, who
uniformly believed that salvation was the only worthy earthly aim.
Acting on information attained through secret channels or from
visitations, it would summon the accused, who was required to
give, under oath, "full, true, and perfect" answers to broad and
undetailed charges made by secret informants. Refusal to take the
oath resulted in commitment for contempt of court.
Pages:
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783
784
785
786
787
788